President Bush is planning on riding into Jerusalem on a white horse to save the Middle East. Reports by media in Israel, and this morning's article in the Jerusalem Post implies that El Presidente is coming for a 2 day trip starting January 10, 2008. Well, Buggy and I are going to try to make it a LOOONG weekend away from Jerusalem when Prez Bush is in town. We'll be locking up out liquor too, just in case, and hopefully finding a nice weekend getaway that won't break the bank. Hmmm, maybe Switzerland? We'll see.
Happy First Day of Chanukah to everyone! Buggy and I attended the family Chanukah party last night and, all I can say is that it's much better than last year. This time, instead of calling me fat, his Aunt told me that I looked so skinny that I could eat all of the potato latkes she won't be eating since she's on a diet. I told her I gained 10 pounds since the wedding and am back to wearing my fat pants, but thanked her for telling me that I looked so nice.
Other highlights included a fantastic roast beef, a major announcement from my sister-in-law about her pregnancy (she announced that she was pregnant) and lots of tears that didn't come from either myself or Buggy. Speaking of Buggy, he was so disappointed this year with the gifts that I feel pretty terrible. Now that he's no longer flying solo, we get "our" presents as opposed to "his" and "hers" gifts. Which makes sense that this year we got 2 bathmats and bath towels, 3 hand towels for when we wash, 2 beautiful rose candles, body cream/perfume and 2 mini-silver spoons to match our silver salt and pepper pots.
Two things about the gifts I want to highlight:
1) This year, Buggy's Aunt didn't give him hand cream. For the past 5 years or so, his Aunt gave him hand cream. I was there last year when she presented him for foot cream, actually, and was pretty shocked by the gift. Of course, he gave it to me and I did use it and enjoyed it, but we get a big chuckle out of the present. Note to all Aunt's/Mother's and gift givers of the world - don't ever give a single male, or marriageable age, hand cream for Chanukah. It just send the wrong message....
2) Buggy's sister got everyone CD's this Chanukah and we were fortunate enough to receive Sting's Hit's that no one has ever heard of and Cat Steven's Remembered. Now, Buggy and I are music snobs. I admit it, I'm not nice when it comes to music, I have very, very distinct taste. In fact, I would never listen to either Sting or Cat Stevens. Buggy, of course, is the same as me when it comes to music (one of the first things we discovered about each other and one of the major reasons we went out on a second date. The man loved The Killers, it was Bashert!). Anyway, I really appreciated the gift because it was a nice present, but what the heck was I going to do with it? Well, Buggy's Aunt got a Bob Dylan CD and she has loads of Dylan and truthfully, I only have a handful of songs from iTunes so I wanted to trade for the Dylan. Buggy's Aunt liked Cat Stevens and a trade was made, but not without slightly offending Buggy's sister (mind you, she SAID we could trade CD's if we didn't like what we got). I ask you folks - why did we get the crappy music selection? Buggy's brother got Led Zepplin (another great pic for us), his Aunt got Bob Dylan, his Mother got Mika (which wouldn't be good for us but it showed that at least his sister put thought into the present since my MIL loves pop music), and we got the CD's you find in the bargain basket at checkout. I kid you not, this gift showed not thought or forsight on his sister's part. Now, I got them two really nice children photo albums and I have to say, I put plenty of thought into the gift. I also spent 84 shekel on her gift, 75 shekel on the present for her daughter - and Gaby and I merited two CD's that roughly cost 25 shekel. Where is the love? It's ok, I learn my lesson once. Next year, she gets scotch tape for Chanukah.
Well, I've been up since 6:30 a.m. and it's amazing that I've got some energy. Buggy has his BIG presentation today and he was a nervous wreck when I woke him this morning. Fortunately, he was able to get up and out of the apartment by 7:10 a.m., with both breakfast and lunch and a Chai to drink. I waited for Avi to come and then we went next door to our neighbors to check out the two leaks in their apartments. First, according to Avi, the living leaks are actually not leaks at all but the water that leaked a few months ago drying in their apartment. The worse we'll have to do is paint the wall because of the damage, but he doesn't think there's any new water damage and if there is, it's not coming from our apartment. That was a big relief. The second leak is HUGE and it's in their kitchen but, fortunately, the only way it could be coming from our apartment is it our Mamad had water in it and was dripping. Avi pointed out that, based on where their kitchen is, the water is actually coming from our next door neighbor's apartment. Avi showed us that our neighbor recently had work done (he did, I remember) and they installed a section of the rood pointing downward as opposed to pointing upward. So, all of the rain and even the dew that collects onto that roof is pouring directly into the roof of our neighbor's kitchen. So, Avi suggested they contact the neighbors to let us know. We also encouraged them to get another opinion, in case they weren't comfortable with what Avi said, and they were just going to have their Kablan called Avi to discuss some of the other options. In the meantime, we're waiting for the next big rain to see if it's from our apartment or leaking from the second balcony. The good news is that, based on the current water damage, it doesn't appear to be anything leaking from our bathroom. That really, really made me feel better.
So now, I'm trying to figure out what we're doing for dinner tonight. Buggy has been so stressed lately because of school that I want to do something nice. I think I'm going to bake him some latke's for dinner, so I have to go to the fruit and vegetable store to pick up some necessary ingredients. We're also almost out of toilet paper and paper towels, so I need to pick that up too, and I think I'm going to make some chicken for dinner so I'm going to go to Falcon to get some meat.
Well, my Heroes video is almost done loading so I'm off to watch an episode before getting on with my day. Hope everyone is having a Chag Sameach!
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